Writing a book is hard work—but whether you’re writing your first or fifth book, there are ways to make the process easier and more productive. We’ll talk about the biggest obstacles every aspiring author must overcome before reaching her goal; how to focus your idea so your book takes less time to write, requires fewer rewrites, and immediately grabs your ideal readers’ attention; and the secret to structuring your book so readers are hooked to the end.

Melinda Copp, founder and executive editor of The Writer’s Sherpa, LLC, is a book ghostwriter and editorial consultant based in Bluffton, South Carolina. She specializes in helping aspiring authors get clear on the real story they were meant to tell, organizing their material in a powerful way, and then using the client’s ideas to write an engaging and compelling book that delivers their big message.

Melinda’s first ghostwriting gig was working as a professional ghostwriter’s editorial assistant. Since then, she’s started her own editorial business and ghostwritten thirteen books on a wide range of topics, including memoir, self-help, and business. She has an MFA in creative writing from Goucher College and a BS in journalism from West Virginia University. Melinda teaches writing workshops and provides one-on-one editorial consulting for aspiring nonfiction authors.

She has worked with memoirists, coaches, consultants, speakers, lawyers, doctors, real estate agents, financial advisors, and aspiring authors from diverse backgrounds to create manuscripts that they’re proud to put their name on and confident sharing with the world. She publishes an e-zine for authors, The WRITE Path, and blogs about writing at www.writerssherparetreats.com.

Register for the 2018 Nonfiction Writers Conference.